Guitarist GLEN DROVER Talks About Playing With MEGADETH

Music Infusion recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH guitarist Glen Drover. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Music Infusion: How do you manage your time between projects? I mean, you said that EIDOLON is primarily recording, but how do you manage your time now between MEGADETH and that.

Glen: "We've done like four or five albums with Metal Blade since 2000, kind of a big body of work for that time period. And then after that, instead of renewing the contract you sign another label called Escapi, which is out of Sweden, and they have worldwide recognition, and really good stuff. When we signed that deal, it was shortly after that I got this gig, because Shawn [Drover, MEGADETH/EIDOLON drummer] went to Andy LaRocque's [KING DIAMOND] studio in Sweden to do the drums for that album, that was the beginnings of that. I was actually in rehearsals in Arizona while he was doing that, and he came home and ended up getting into the band. Initially it was like we had a certain time period where we would finish the album. I can't remember when we talked to the record label. I think it was like the end of April at that point, and because this gig coming up, everything got shifted. So now it was like, 'Okay, this tour is going to go on for some time, and I'm going to have little moments in between tours to do stuff that I need to do.' I mean, I cram a lot in, I know we skied. Our singer, our new singer, his name is Nils K. Rue, he also plays in a band called PAGAN'S MIND, they're from Norway. As we speak he's doing all the vocals, lyrics, and melodies and the recordings of all the vocals. When I get home, shortly after, I'll receive all the vocals, and do all the finishing touches. Add keyboards and guitar solos, which I usually leave to the end. We make it work, in other words, but we definitely have to talk to the record company, and say, 'Hey, listen. We're not going to have it here. We need a lot more time because of this.' Because if they're going to squawk about it, having half the band in MEGADETH is not going to hurt them."

Music Infusion: As you said, you've been working with your brother, Shawn, with EIDOLON and now with MEGADETH, how has that been. One of the gripes about being on the road is being away from their family, you kind of have that all the time, how has that dynamic worked?

Glen: "For me, that's the only hard part is being away from my family. I have a son who just turned four. I playing in KING DIAMOND for several years, and I left the band in 2001 because I didn't really didn't want to do it, I wanted to have more of a stable family life, being at home, I didn't want to do the touring. So I stopped that. This opportunity came up, and it was the right opportunity. And everything worked out okay, with my family there was a lot of encouragement from everybody. Everything lined up to go, went down the right road for me to do it. When I got the first offer I was all over the map, you know, yes, no, maybe, I didn't know what to do because there were so many factors involved. It wasn't just black and white. I wanted to do the gig, but it's more complex than that. Anyhow, it worked out great, like I said, it's definitely hard to be away from my son. But, you know, this is my other family, out here, and its very exciting when we're out here. I still talk to my family every day, so, it's all good. And I'm going to see them in less than a week, so I'm happy."

Music Infusion: What would you say has been your most memorable moment on the tour?

Glen: "Just the initial rehearsals were definitely one of them. Just getting connected, that was pretty cool. It was like, 'Wow!' I mean, I grew up listening to the band, and now I'm a guitar team with Dave [Mustaine]. It's a little surreal. So that was definitely a great moment. Shawn coming into the fold was a great moment as well, because I knew what he was going to bring to the band, which was he's a great tone player, he's a great drummer, and he's very positive. He'll be joking around, he brings a really positive attitude and atmosphere to the band, and that was really cool. And many shows, I mean, probably too many to mention. Those two were defiantly the high points for sure."

Read the entire interview at this location.